NRC Preview: Whitehaven v Doncaster

Injured trio Aaron Henry, Simon Brown and Scott Johnson are all expected to miss out for Doncaster in Sunday’s Northern Rail Cup tie at Whitehaven.

But Gary Ellery (ribs) and Craig Lawton could come back into Tony Miller’s thinking following last week’s 30-20 defeat against Swinton.

Miller said: “I couldn’t fault the commitment or the endeavour from the players – we just played a bit dumb at times and lacked a bit of composure.”

Whitehaven could be boosted by the return of Mick Govin (shoulder) for Sunday’s Northern Rail Cup tie with Doncaster, but Leroy Joe will definitely not feature after suffering a broken ankle at Keighley.

‘Haven lost 34-26 against Batley on Wednesday night but coach Ged Stokes was delighted with his side’s performance.

He said: “We went really well. We had a lot of things go against us but we still came out really positive. I was very happy with our performance.

“We probably did enough to win the game but it wasn’t to be. We should be pretty high going into Sunday’s game. By the time the Co-operative Championship season starts I think we’ll be going OK.”

On Doncaster, Stokes said: “I’ve had a good look at them. They’re a really good, young, enthusiastic team. They had a close match against Swinton and Swinton are a good side this year. We certainly know we’ll have a game on our hands.”